Manehattan Project

Manehattan Central Police Station

500 E 200 South

"You've got some explaining to do Mr....Bolt," Sparks said grinning "how's the rump?"

"Fine," he said "no thanks to you."

"What were you doing shooting at us?"

"I was trying to tie some loose ends," he said leaning back in the interrogators chair."

"You part of the Capall?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bolt said with a slight air of arrogance.

"You know," Sparks said "I've been told that a lot lately and I figured that you ponies should know that if I ask you."

"Well," Bolt said "then no. I'm not part of the Capall."

"That's not what our record of you tells us."

"Ain't that a crying shame," Bolt said smugly.

"We have you on direct murder charges Bolt," Sparks said arranging the papers in Bolt's file "on three separate occasions, but all we need is this one to put you behind bars."

"Oh yeah<" Bolt said "I thought it was just attempted."

"No," Sparks "we found remnants of Vision's shoes and knew that you had stolen them to place a binary compound explosive in each one. Separate they wouldn't have completed the job but together, we now see the end result."

A knock sounded on the door leading in "Enter," Sparks said without taking his eyes away from Bolt. Agent Steele from the Equestria Bureau of Intelligence opened the door and gestured with his hoof. Sparks got up and took the file with him slamming the door behind him.

"What do you want Steele?" Sparks said "I was right in the middle of an interrogation."

As they walked together down the hall Steele said "SecPeg just got a tag on a terror suspect which matches our profile of him."

Agent Night joined them "SecPeg?"

"Pegasi Security, SecPeg is a lot easier to say than that," Sparks said "so we cut it down a long time ago."

"Why not PegSec?"

"Because we wanted it that way," Steele said grinning "anyways, Bolt isn't our main guy, he's just a pawn. The pony who organized Vision's assassination was a Bishop."

"So he was religious?" Night asked

"No Night," Sparks said "chess metaphor."

"We've had him on our database for a while," Steele said "he's wanted for murder, extortion, attempted murder, fraud, and just about anything else you can name off the top of your head."

"What about failure to bring me a steamy  latte?"

"We could put that on and sue him for ten coins," Steele said "I like her Sparks, got a little spunk and fire don't she."

"You wait until we get in the field," Sparks said "she kicked Vision's teeth in when we brought him down."

Steele made an O shape with his mouth and snorted "Damn!"

They all wend up to Ops which was located on the floor above the one which was sabotaged and walked inside. Bristle greeted them with a friendly wave "Steele," he said trotting over and carrying a tray of test tubes "it's been awhile sir."

"Yes it has," Steele said "need some help?"

"Not really," Bristle said "just thought I'd give you guys that update on the ping we got in SecPeg."

"What's the scoop?" Sparks said.

"The terrorist's name is Reverent Wing," Bristle said "we think it's just an alias though. He's basically wanted for everything because he's an organizer of crime, and not a committer of it."

"So," Night said "like you said, he's a bishop."

"Right," Bristle said questioningly "are we forming a chess league here? Because I would totally thrash all of you. I was champion for four years in a row in high school."

"Get to the point Bristle," Sparks said.

"Okay," Bristle replied "this pony is basically the one behind the Capall. He's kind of like our version of the AntiPony."

"AntiPony?" asked Steele.

"You know," Bristle said "some religious sects believe that an evil counter of Celestia will appear, similar to Nightmare Moon, only she'll control the day, and that sort of thing..."

"What does that have to do with this?" Sparks asked exasperated.

"Patience Sparks," Bristle said "I'm getting there. We intercepted a transmission after I hacked into Vision's personal computer. Thankfully it wasn't destroyed in the initial blast which took his life. It contained multiple e-mail accounts which led to the same IP address."

"Like the threads leading up to a spider," Night said nodding in acknowledgement.

"Precisely," Bristle said  "Vision used multiple screen names in an half-hearted attempt to..."

"What is it Bristle?" Steele said concerned.

"Well," Bristle said "a thought just occurred to me. Reverent Wing would have known that Vision would possibly crack under pressure, so he had the shoes sabotaged with the binary explosive. He also knew that where Vision would be held would be on the same floor as some of our crucial database servers..."

"Yeah," Sparks said "that's why he detonated the explosive, to erase them."

"No," Bristle thought out loud "Vision was just a distraction, same with his dealer."

"Drug dealer," Steel asked.

"No," Bristle said "his poison dealer. He knows that we would merely use him as an actual bluff to try and get information..."

"What is it?" Sparks said emphasizing every word.

"It was planted," Bristle said smacking his forehead "everything that we've done. The computer, the explosion, the Calcium Fluoride, everything was planted!"

"How can you tell?" Night asked.

"Because," Bristle said "everything was too obvious. It was meant to be found. Same with Bolt, the pony we took in. It was all a set up for something bigger."

"Anyway we can find out what that is exactly?" Steele said indignant.

"Sure," Bristle said going over to his rolling swivel chair and scooting towards his computer "basically we can first trace the IP address to the computer which was supposedly being used by Reverent Wing. Then, we can hack into it and if that doesn't work, worst comes to worse I can give you an address to go to. Then I'll send a wire over to Shining Armor and let him know the situation. It's not much, but I'll go from there."

"Alright Bristle," Sparks said "keep it up."

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Number 8 Warehouse

51st Street, Upper Manehattan

Sparks stood in front of a team of E.B.I. Agents armed with bullet proof vests, helmets, and carrying assault rifles. Night was covering the rear exit. Bristle's address had led them to this ware house in Upper Manehattan. Usually, the wealthy stored their possessions in banks across the booming metropolis, but occasionally they stored things in warehouses. This was one of them. Sparks kicked open the door and they rushed inside, weapons ready. But the room was empty. In the very center of the room, there was a chair with a TV set up. The agents swept over it, and uncovered several crates that were stamped with some strange lettering. The TV winked on "Ah," a voice said. Even though it was on the TV screen was still black "Special Agent Sparks. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Sparks walked over towards the TV, and gestured silently for everyone else to quietly leave the room. He didn't sit, but he stood behind the chair "What do you want Reverent?"

The voice chuckled "You know me? I see, I suppose that Bolt didn't do his job properly?"

"Yes," Sparks said pacing around and observing his surroundings "you've been pretty busy I hear lately."

"Indeed I have," Reverent Wing said "it's regrettably been awhile since we last met."

"Nope," Sparks said "I don't miss a single moment."

"You mean," Reverent said "not even after I killed your wife?"

A lump quickly came to Spark's throat but he subdued it just as fast. "I'll get you Reverent," Sparks said "we're on to you."

"No  you're not," Reverent said "you're analyst, Bristle, well, he gave you a couple of false leads."

"I think he figured them out pretty well," Sparks retorted.

"On the contrary," Reverent said "I wanted you to come here. Which is why I gave you this address."

With that, the doors slid and locked and the room was filled with the hiss of gas and made Agent Sparks go unconscious.